Early white paper draft version- October 2013
This preliminary draft is intended as a consultation document.
Comments/edits welcome. Please do not use or cite.
Theme 8: High Sensitivity Systems- HS2
Co-authors: Michelle Graco, Anja Engel, Lisa Miller, Véronique Garçon and Jacqueline Stefels
1. Brief statement defining the theme:
In the global context Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUSs) and Polar systems have been identified as
hot spots for air-sea exchange research, because of their significant role in the ocean ecosystems and global
biogeochemical cycles. They are also identified as High Sensitivity Systems (HS2) to the global change impacts.
Hence, research on the potential consequences and feedbacks of global change needs to include focused
studies of such specific HS2.
2. The scientific and societal basis justifying research on this issue. Why is it critical and why does it
need to be done now? What is the end goal? Why is international coordination required?
The Equatorial Boundary Upwelling Ecosystems (EBUSs) and Sea-Ice ecosystems are particularly relevant to
the SOLAS goal ”To achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and
feedbacks between the ocean and the atmosphere”. These environments are included in the SOLAS Mid-term
Strategies (Law et al., 2013). However the existing knowledge is still insufficient and because of their
implications and complexity it is necessary to reinforce multidisciplinary studies in the coming years in these
systems and also other HS2.
The EBUSs are among the most productive areas in the world ocean and support important fisheries.
Their high productivity feeds one of the world’s largest and most intense Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs), which
are associated with new paradigms in the nutrient cycling and significant releases of greenhouse gases. We
know that these areas influence the cloud properties and the climate and any change in the upwelling and OMZ
conditions, such as change in circulation patterns, deoxygenation, is expected to result in changes in
productivity, biogeochemical processes and trace gases production. In turn, the dynamics and consequence of
the changes in Sea-Ice characteristics and distribution in the polar oceans are critical to understand and model
feedback effects and future scenarios of climate change. We understand that sea ice is an active player in the
climate, through air-sea gas exchange and aerosol production, as well as carbon dioxide export.
However, in EBUSs and Sea-Ice systems existing knowledge is yet insufficient to a) assess the direction
and extent of future changes in biogeochemical cycles resulting from warming, deoxygenation and changing
sea-ice distributions, b) determine critical thresholds and resilience capacity of these systems, and c) improve
management strategies for human interactions with high sensitive systems (HS 2) and apply an ecosystemic
approach based management including other aspects as resource extraction, tourism, transportation and
pollutant cycling.
The challenge of this “hot-spot” research of complex systems in unique environments is to develop
multidisciplinary collaborations with highly qualified scientists, and to combine research and capacity building,
with new techniques and innovative technologies for observational and modeling approaches. In such contexts
national efforts are insufficient and international coordination is required.
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3. Background – major scientific concepts, key prior work defining the issues:
EBUSs, as the California, Humboldt, Benguela and Canary Currents, are characterized by high
productivity and support the largest fisheries of the world (e.g. Chavez et al., 2009). The high productivity is
associated with shallow and intense Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs) with high CO 2 contents, low pH values and
a shallow aragonite saturation horizons that can impinge on the euphotic zone, impacting the surface ecosystem
and releasing CO2 and N2O, strong greenhouse gases, to the atmosphere (e.g. Bange et al., 2006, Farías et al.,
2007, Friederich et al., 2008, Paulmier et al., 2008; Paulmier and Ruiz-Pino, 2009). EBUSs and OMZs are
characterized also by an intense microbial recycling associated with the nitrogen and sulphur cycling that deeply
impact in the environmental conditions, the communities and the greenhouse sink-source of the coastal waters
(e.g. Lam et al, 2010, Schunk et al., 2013, Ulloa et al., 2012). Ultimately, these biogeochemical processes
determine the productivity of these systems and their role as sinks or sources of climate-active gases needs to
be adequately addressed in order to understand the interactions with the climate system (Law et al., 2013).
Until now, sea ice was assumed to block air-sea gas and material exchange, momentum and heat were
thought to be the only parameters that effectively passed through the ice. However, over the last 10 years and
thanks to a massive research effort, much of which has been conducted by SOLAS scientists, we now
understand that sea ice is not a passive barrier to air-sea exchange, but is an active participant in the
biogeochemical cycles of many elements, producing climatically-active atmospheric aerosols (Leck and Bigg,
2010), modulating the surface ocean ecosystem (e.g., Arrigo et al., 2010), contributing to substantial seasonal
CO2 fluxes, and possibly facilitating long-term export and CO2 sequestration in deep waters (e.g., Loose et al.,
2011). Dramatic changes in air-sea gas exchange rates co-vary with the open-water fraction (Loose et al., 2009;
Else et al., 2011). Therefore, the polar oceans are a true, year-round hot spot for air-sea interactions. The
researches over the last decade conclude that sea ice is a very rich and complex system in which biotic and
abiotic processes interact in changing ways throughout the lifetime. The freeze melt of sea ice strongly impacts
on the physical characteristics of surrounding surface waters (Thomas and Dieckmann, 2010). This newly
identified complexity in the sea-ice system is confounding efforts to predict how changes in ice cover will
propagate throughout polar ecosystems and feed back onto the global climate system.
Sea ice and the EBUSs are only two examples of complex regional systems undergoing dramatic
changes that are not only intimately linked with climate, but that also impact human communities. Nonetheless,
the interdisciplinary and international framework SOLAS provides to tackle these problems will also serve
research in other high sensitivity systems, as their importance becomes evident.
Sea- ice Ecosystems
Habitat, source, sink and barrier for gas
exchange:
-Trace Gas emissions/ Photochemistry
-DMS and Climate
-CO2 Cycling and climate
Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems /OMZs
Habitat, source, sink for gas exchange:
-Trace gas Emissions/ Photochemistry
-Atmospheric Nitrogen Cycling, N2O and
Climate
-CO2 Cycling, acidification, deoxygenation and
Climate
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From Law et al., 2013
4. Approaches – what will it take to make substantive progress on the issue? What will be achieved in
the 10 years of Future SOLAS?
“Holistic” multidisciplinary approaches are required to address ocean-atmosphere exchange, processes and
feedbacks in high sensitivity systems if we are to improve our capacity to predict climate change impacts and
identified effective mitigation and/or adaption strategies.
The Future SOLAS has a key role in coordinating national efforts and to implement the multidisciplinary
research projects required to address climate-change impacts by the High Sensitivity Systems- HS2 .
For the next 10 years, Future SOLAS will support research in High Sensitive Systems (HS2) through:
-GAS EXCHANGE MONITORING AND PROCESS STUDIES. Continue and reinforce the biological, chemical
and physical controls of greenhouse and reactive trace gas cycling in EBUSs and at the sea-ice interfaces.
-HS2 AND MULTIPLE STRESSORS. To explore the regional dynamics of relevant stressors and their
synergistically effect in EBUSs and Sea Ice systems.
-REGIONAL MODELS. Improve representations of biogeochemistry in regional models of sea ice and EBUSS,
with better descriptions of biogeochemical processes coupled with higher temporal and spatial resolution of
observational data. Develop high-resolution coupled atmosphere-physical and biogeochemical models nested in
larger resolution models.
-EARTH SYSTEM MODELS. Identify the elements of HS2 systems that are key parameters to global change
and incorporate them into Earth System Models to address impacts and feedbacks in future global change
scenarios.
-OBSERVATIONAL PLATFORMS. Articulate and reinforce observation platforms (local and regional ship-based
cruises, moorings, floats, autonomous vehicles, satellites) in order to obtain time series with good resolution on
spatial and temporal scales of different climatic variables (e.g. temperature, salinity, trace and greenhouses
gases, nutrients, oxygen, carbonate system).
- HS2 DATABASES AND INTERCOMPARISONS. Organize linked databases at LOCAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL,
facilitating decision making for local countries, while also feeding global climate models to determine vulnerability
and risk and to predict future social-economics impacts of climate change. Evaluation and standardization of
methodology and protocols for comparable measurements.
-OTHER HS2 REGIONS. Develop flexible and innovative strategies for initiating air-sea exchange research in
other climatically important hot spots.
5. Community readiness – is there an existing community engaged on this issue? Are there institutional
or other barriers to progress? Is infrastructure or human capacity building required in order to achieve
the goals?
In 2008, five research topics and issues that require international coordination to make progress have been
identified. Air-sea gas fluxes at Eastern boundary upwelling and Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) systems (PI: V.
Garcon) and Sea-ice biogeochemistry and interactions with the atmosphere (PI: J. Stefels) compose the socalled SOLAS Mid-Term Strategy. Following initiatives within SOLAS’ Mid-Term Strategy other programs as
CLIVAR-IMBER and SCOR Working Group (WG 140) examining these systems but in complementary aspects,
e.g. to develop strategies and initiate a number of important activities, including methodological intercomparison
and standardizations, database development, and regional and earth system model advancements. These
working groups will directly benefit from continuing SOLAS support.
6. External connections – what partnerships are required in order to achieve the goals? What
mechanisms will be used to accomplish the interactions?
The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Through their focus on autonomous observation platforms and
remote sensing, GOOS is facilitating the high temporal and spatial resolution monitoring necessary to resolve
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many of the complex processes in HS2 and to improve the success rate and usefulness of in situ biogeochemical
sensor deployments. The GOOS subsidiaries AOOS and SOOS (in the Arctic and Southern Oceans,
respectively) are also enhancing our capacity to understand sea-ice and ocean dynamics in these regions where
ship-based work is difficult and sparse.
The SFB 754 at GEOMAR "Climate-Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean. Collaborative
Research Center addresses the relatively newly recognized threat of ocean deoxygenation, its possible impact
on tropical oxygen minimum zones and implications for the global climate-biogeochemistry system. The overall
goal of the SFB 754 is to improve understanding of the coupling of tropical climate variability and circulation with
the ocean's oxygen and nutrient balance, to quantitatively evaluate the nature of oxygen-sensitive tipping points,
as well as to assess consequences for the Ocean's future. (https://www.sfb754.de/de).
The French AMOP project (Activités de recherche dédiées au Minimum d’Oxygène du Pacifique-est:
http://www.legos.obs-mip.fr/recherches/projets-en-cours/amop/scientific-objective), with collaborations with
Germany, Denmark, Mexico and Peru, to cite a few, is focused on the Eastern South Pacific and its overarching
goal is to understand the oxygen dvnamics in this OMZ by providing a comprehensive budget for oxygen based
on oceanographic cruise efforts, time series acquisition from a mooring deployed off Peru, and a high resolution
coupled atmosphere-physical and biogeochemical modeling platform.
International collaboration and cooperation will also be sought within the networks of SCOR, SCAR,
PICES, and AOSB in order to involve key scientific groups, to interact with stakeholders and communicate the
progress of our knowledge.
7. Sustainability – articulate relationship (if any) between this project and the FE goals of Global
Development and Transformation Towards Sustainability.
At present, many key ecosystems are threatened by climate change and other stressors associated with human
exploitation, and those threats are feeding back into strains on the communities that depend on those
ecosystems. Every country must rise to the challenge of protecting Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, but it
must also be done through international collaboration. Present and future changes are particularly critical at HS 2,
and impacts need to be addressed at different levels, local, national, regional, and global. In this context it is
important to sensibly mobilize all the stakeholders to focus on national and international research efforts and
capacity building for sustainable development.
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